DAY TWO – May 26, 2026

09:00 – 11:00: Session 4
EXPLORING WHEAT DIVERSITY, EVOLUTION AND GENETIC RESERVOIRS
CHAIRS: Zhiyong Liu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Anna Maria Mastrangelo (CREA, Italy)

09:00 – 9:15
Digitalizing the wheat evolution trajectories and genetic diversity
Weilong Guo (China Agricultural University, China)

09:15 – 9:30
Genome-wide discovery of kinase fusion proteins for plant defense
Tzion Fahima (Haifa University, Israel)

09:30 – 09:45
Genetic diversity from wheat’s wild relatives
Julie King (Wheat Research Centre of Nottingham, UK)

09:45 – 10:00
Beyond the cultivated gene pool: Mining hidden genetic riches of wild germplasm
Satinder Kaur (Punjab Agricultural University, India)

10:00 – 10:15
Harnessing the genetic wealth of tetraploid wheat relatives
Elisabetta Mazzucotelli (CREA, Italy)

10:15 – 10:30
Discussion

10:30 – 11:00
Selected short (5 min) talks

11:00 – 11:30 COFFEE BREAK & POSTERS VISION

11:30 – 12:30 Panel Discussion I
SOIL AND THE RHIZOSPHERE IN WHEAT PRODUCTION: THE NEW FRONTIER FOR A SUSTAINABILITY
CHAIRS: Laura Ercoli (Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies, Italy), Lee Hickey (University of Queensland, Australia)

12:30 – 14:00 LUNCH

14:00 – 16:00 Session 5
WHEAT GENOMES AND PANGENOMES
CHAIRS: Valentyna Klymiuk (University of Saskatchewan, Canada), Mao Long (Shandong Agricultural University, China)

14:00 – 14:15
Tetraploid wheat pangenome to better bridge with hexaploid wheat
Marco Maccaferri (University of Bologna, Italy)

14:15 – 14:30 
Genome variation and breeding application of irradiation in wheat
Luxiang Liu (Institute of Crop Science of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China) 

14:30 – 14:45
Wheat pangenome 100+ and rising: building a global haplotype catalogue
Rajeev Varshney (Murdoch University, Australia)

14:45 – 15:00
The wheat Rchive
David Gilbert (The Wullf Lab, Saudi Arabia)

15:00 – 15:15
GWAS across wheat genomes: Insights from the Watkins collection
Adul Kader Allabdullah (John Innes Centre, UK)

15:15 – 15:30
Discussion

15:30 – 16:00
Selected short (5 min) talks

16:00 – 17:00 COFFEE BREAK & POSTER VISION

17:00 – 19:00 – Session 6
WHEAT FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS
CHAIRS: Eduard Akhunov (Kansas State University, USA), Philippa Borrill (John Innes Centre, UK)

17:00 – 17:15
Genomics of novel disease resistance genes in wheat
Gurcharn Brar Singh (University of Alberta, Canada)

17:15 – 17:30
Genome editing for sustainable wheat production and population health
Xia Lanqin (Yazhou Bay National Laboratory, China)

17:30 – 17:45
Deciphering the genetic basis of end-use quality in wheat
Yao Yingyin (China Agricultural University, China)

17:45 – 18:00
Evaluation of the fate of wild-relative introgressions in wheat
Pierre Sourdille (INRAE, France)

18:00 – 18:15
Induced mutations and application in genetic analysis of wheat yield
Huijun Guo (CAAS, China)

18:15 – 18:30
Discussion

18:30 – 19:00
Selected short (5 min) talks